The association between body mass index and the risk of endometriosis: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Many epidemiologic studies have been conducted to assess factors that were associated to endometriosis, but there is no consistency in results. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to investigate the association between body mass index and the risk of endometriosis. Methods: In this meta-analysis, relevant studies that published in major international electronic bibliographic databases of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were systematically searched during November 2017. The Begg and Egger's test was used to investigate publication bias in included studies. The Q-statistic and I 2 tests were carried out for measuring heterogeneity. The random-effects model was conducted to obtain pooled odds ratio. Results: Our results showed a direct association between underweight and endometriosis in woman (odds ratio = 1.41, 95% confidence interval = 1.16-1.66), so underweight woman had 41% higher chance for endometriosis. However, we did not find linear association between overweight and endometriosis (odds ratio = 0.95; 95% confidence interval: 0.72-1.18) and obesity and endometriosis (odds ratio = 0.88; 95% confidence interval: 0.54-1.21), respectively. Conclusions: Our results suggested that underweight was a risk factor for the endometriosis, while overweight and obesity were not protective factors for endometriosis.

The Formidable yet Unresolved Interplay between Endometriosis and Obesity

“…Similarly, Vilarinho Cardo et al found that a specific polymorphism of an isoform of the cytochrome (CYP2C19 ∗ 2) had a positive correlation with endometriosis in females with increased BMI (range 30–40) [ 31 ]. These findings suggest that, despite the observation that women with endometriosis have a low BMI, obesity does not protect from the manifestation of endometriosis, in accordance with the meta-analysis of Jenabi et al [ 19 ].…”

“…The abundance of relevant studies and simultaneously the need to clarify the situation are depicted on the fact that there are two high-quality meta-analyses on the association between BMI and the risk of endometriosis, one by Liu and Zhang [ 18 ] and one by Jenabi et al [ 18 , 19 ]. Interestingly, after the implementation of inclusion and exclusion criteria, the two meta-analyses shared only three studies, even though they have been published only two years apart.…”

“…Table 2 summarizes relevant evidence from studies included in the current review. However, it must be emphasized that a e Scientific World Journal Chemerin concentrations in peritoneal fluid and serum are higher in women with endometriosis than controls e Scientific World Journal high BMI does not preclude the development of endometriosis [19]. In the same context, the pivotal observation that obesity may be associated with severe forms of endometriosis should be investigated further [20].…”

Dietary Inflammatory Index score and risk of developing endometriosis: A case–control study

“…34 A recent meta-analysis showed a direct association between underweight and endometriosis, suggesting that low body weight is a risk factor for the disease, and despite this, did not find linear association between overweight or obesity and endometriosis, thus, overweight/ obesity could not be considered protective factors for endometriosis. 35…”

Epidemiology of Endometriosis in Tamil Nadu, India

“…[23] Meta analysis by Liu and Zhang et al, 2017 suggested that higher BMI was associated with lower risk of endometriosis, [24,25] whereas, Jenabi et al, 2019 study showed underweight as a risk factor for endometriosis while obesity did not show any significant protective effect. [26] A study in Korean population by Seo et al, 2021 did not reveal any association between BMI and severity of disease. [27] Similarly, Iranian study also showed women with endometriosis had lower BMI than controls.…”